Working Title: It's Not Our Fight
by alone on the water
Summary: Sorry, this is just a temporary place-holder while I do some revamping on the whole thing. Please don't report. Revised Chapter 1 is coming soon.


**Author's Notes: **

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_Chapter 1 – Prologue (Last Time)_

_Olympus, city of the gods…I have returned._ I smiled as I gingerly traced the thin cracks of the elegant porcelain rims of the fountain bowl with my fingers. Three years ago, I completely destroyed this piece of art during a fight with Ares, the war god. It had been repaired by magic, of course, but there was still a surge of pride when I thought about it. Two years ago, Annabeth, Clarisse and I were standing in the exact same spot when we ran into Hermes, got two presents from him, which were indeed quite useful during our quest in the Sea of Monsters. Now, as I set foot onto the narrow skywalks for the third time in the past three years, the city of Olympus greeted me with the same grandeur and majesty as if it hadn't even aged a day._ But then again, it isn't called "the eternal city" for nothing…_

However, as Annabeth and I strode through the streets of Olympus, holding Blackjack's reins, the dark side of the eternal city became painfully evident. The atmosphere was no longer filled with golden scents of flowers and silvery notes of music. The hawkers at the stalls had blank faces, and the prices have skyrocketed. There was no laughter, only a grim silence, which proved to be quite unnerving for an ADHD demigod like me. The only audible noise came from the forges to the north, where clouds of smoke billowed from the chimneys, and the clanging of metals could be heard from miles away. I instinctively knew what they were making. Weapons, Olympus was preparing for war.

A war was coming.

A war between Kronos and the gods,

I kept my head down as we walked through the marketplace, trying my best to be as inconspicuous as possible. Naturally, it didn't work. Whispers and murmurs followed me wherever I went, and the hushed tones of the speakers expressed a mixture of emotions varying from admiration to pure fury. Suddenly, Annabeth gasped. My head shot up, looking for caught her attention. Annabeth immediately tried to distract me by picking up a pair of Aphrodite QC jeans and babbled about how nice it looked _(I suppose the QC was supposed to stand for "quality-control?")_, but my gaze inevitably fell on the _Hermes' UPS Convenience Store_ off to the side, where stacks of the today's _Olympus Times _piled high on the table at its newspaper-stand section. My own face stared out from the first page, front and center.

I immediately snatched up one of the copies.

"Hey Miss, you have to pay for that!" a man, who obviously owned the place, yelled at me.

Without sparing him another glance, I tossed a drachma onto the desk and flipped to the first page. **_THALIA GRACE STEPS DOWN! _**One of the headlines stated. **_KRONOS RETURNS! _**Another one screamed with a blood-red font. And below it, was **_KATNISS EVERDEEN, THE NEW DEMIGOD OF THE PROPHECY? (See next page) _**There was a small picture of Thalia kneeling before Artemis, obviously taken while she was taking her oath to join eternal maidenhood. But, the rest of the page was covered with several pictures of…me. Twelve year old me, with the lightning bolt in my hands, obviously taken three years ago; thirteen year old me, standing on the beaches of Polyphemus' Island, snarling at the cyclops with Riptide in my hands; and of course, there are also several blurry images of me holding up the sky the other day. In fascinated horror, I flipped the pages again. This time, there was another picture of me and Thalia. Her half of the background was laced with the lightning bolts, and mine was filled with an enormous sea wave. We seemed to be having one of those arguments back at camp.

Annabeth laid a hand on my shoulder. "Katniss, we really should get going." I ignored her and allowed my eyes to zoom in on the article at hand.

**_THALIA GRACE VS KATNISS EVERDEEN_**

**_Who will be the demigod of the prophecy?_**

BY JAMES STEVENS, DEMIGOD SON OF HERMES

**City of Olympus, Olympus –****_Any mention of demigods and prophecies in the same setting generally conjures up images of quests, battles, or maybe even death. And this was no exception._**

**_The Great Prophecy, the one prophecy issued by the Oracle of Delphi years ago, warned us of a child of the Big Three and the fateful choice tied to him/her that would either save or destroy the gods. For years, we had thought that Thalia Grace, the daughter of Lord Zeus himself, would be the chosen demigod. Powerful, hotheaded and loyal, she seemed to be the only candidate…until she received fatal injuries and was turned into a pine tree to save her life. _**

**_Immortals all over Olympus then thought it was over. They thought the prophecy may never be fulfilled, until a new demigod was sired: Katniss Everdeen, daughter of Poseidon. She made quite an entrance to fame on her very first quest, finding the Lightning bolt of Lord Zeus and preventing a Civil War between the gods. She has further distinguished herself by finding the Golden Fleece, which saved Camp Half-Blood and healed the aforementioned daughter of Zeus. Thalia Grace might be the one of the prophecy after all, being one full year older than Katniss Everdeen and all that._**

**_But, things are not always that simple. According to our informant, Thalia Grace has joined the Hunters of Artemis only three days before turning sixteen! Does the prophecy fall to Katniss Everdeen again? What part will Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades play in this matter? _**

**_The gods and goddess of Olympus all have differing opinions of Katniss Everdeen. Some say she is too powerful, and not to be trusted with so much power. And we at the Olympus Times certainly agree with that one. The explosion that rocked Mt St. Helens a few days ago, according to reliable sources, was the sole effort of Katniss Everdeen herself. However, there are also some who say that she would make the right choice for sure. The question is… can she really be trusted? Are the gods secretly afraid of her powers?_**

**_We at Olympus Times will do our utmost to reveal the truth! Next week, stay tuned as we uncover Olympus' newest hero, Katniss Everdeen! Who is she really? What is the story behind the lightning bolt? Who are her friends?_**

**_For more information, please contact Travis Stoll at 537-148-2291._**

My knees suddenly felt weak, and the paper fell out of my trembling hands. _The Great Prophecy? Destroy or save Olympus? A choice? Me? _I swallowed hard. "Annabeth, what was the prophecy?"

"Katniss, what is happening?" Annabeth said, concern lacing in her voice.

"What is the prophecy? I need to know it right now. Tell me!" I snapped harshly, but immediately softened as Annabeth flinched at my tone. "Please…I need to know." I pleaded.

Her grey eyes held my mine for a full, tense minute, and I could see the gears running in her head. Then she finally nodded and started to recite solemnly, like a priest saying a prayer:

"_A half blood of the eldest gods,_

_Shall reach sixteen against all odds;_

_A single deadly choice to make,_

_The bane of Olympus to stop or wake;_

_To face and deny the fatal flaw,_

_Or succumb and cause the world to fall."_

I slowly sank to the ground, and hid my face between my knees. It was all too much to take in, and I could feel my strengths seeping through some gaping hole in the front of my body, right where my heart was. It was too late to regret about it right now…oh…how I wish I didn't know anything about it in the first place! I never wanted to be the chosen one, the one who would make a choice that has the power to either destroy or save Olympus. _And not just Olympus, _I huffed bitterly. _The impending war would probably wipe out all of civilization, taking away each and every one of those people who had ever mattered to me._

I finally broke down as the quiet whimpers turned into loud cries. It was all too much for me to take in. And all Annabeth could do, was to sit beside me, and gave me a warm hug. She whispered comforting words in my ears, trying to comfort me, but I didn't think it worked.

After quite a long while, I stood up and composed myself. The future cannot be changed by shedding a few tears. All that is meant to come will come to me when the time is right. I just had to focus on surviving till the next year and try not to get vaporized by the gods because I was 'too powerful', according to the _Olympus Times._ Besides, Ares would just call me a wimp when he sees me red-eyed. I had a meeting to attend.

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The Throne Room door opened soundlessly, expressing a silent welcome. I hesitated for a moment, feeling my heart pounding like a giant drum with a drummer who drank too much coffee, so I took a deep breath, felt Annabeth's hand giving me a reassuring squeeze, and stepped into the room.

Twelve enormous thrones made a U around a central hearth, just like the layouts of the buildings at camp. I looked nervously at my father. He was dressed similar the last time I saw him, with the beach shorts and a trident and all that. I wasn't sure how he would feel about seeing me again, but the corners of his eyes crinkled with smile lines. He nodded as if to say _everything is going to be ok._

And of course, there are always the other gods, all twelve Olympians in one place. So much power in this room…it was a plain miracle that the palace hadn't exploded yet. At the moment, Artemis was standing at the centre of the Council calmly demanding that Zeus step up preparations.

I stood at the doorway awkwardly for a moment, not wanting to interrupt, and then when Poseidon gestured subtly to me, I walked over to his throne and sat at the foot of it. Annabeth pleaded me in a whisper to stop pissing off every godly being I see, and went to sit at the foot of her mother's throne, while Athena frowned disapprovingly at me. Artemis paused for a moment to flash me a welcoming smile, and then she continued her speech. At the foot of _her _throne, Thalia and Zoe were waving at us like two enthusiastic little kids.

Artemis finished her request/demand and walked calmly back to her throne. Apollo tried to poke her with a small twig as she sat, but was stopped when he received a frosty glare from Hera.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Katniss Everdeen!" he called/hollered. I rolled my eyes inwardly and stood up, going to the centre of the council and knelt. Of course, as expected, Zeus went off into a _long_ speech about how he was going to thank me for helping both his daughters (Thalia and Artemis) and how I had done many deeds for the gods, blah blah blah… My knees started to go numb on the hard stone floor. _Ugh…next time I am called in for a council meeting, I am going to stuff extra padding in my pants._

Later, after half of the council was actually asleep (emphasis on _actual_), Artemis publicly thanked Thalia, Zoe and me, which made us all go bright red. She thanked us both for coming to save her, and also for the sacrifice, which had strengthened her to continue carrying the sky.

"I gotta say," Apollo proclaimed. "I like her." He flashed me a toothy grin that nearly blinded me from its brightness. "Thanks for saving my little sister. I owe you one." Artemis threw a right hook straight towards his face when he said the word "little sister", but he didn't seem to mind that much. I blushed furiously and had to bite my lips to stop myself from smiling in embarrassment. _The sun god really was hot…_but then he raised his arms. "Hang on a second; I feel a haiku coming on!"

"Um, yes, first class." Hermes interrupted, without even looking up from his caduceus, like he was anxious to avoid Apollo's poetry. _I didn't blame him._

Next was Hephaestus. He shrunk down to human size and shook my hands. He wore a decent-looking suit, which was a lot better than his workshop outfit, and even his leg didn't seem to be too out of place this time. He had definitely dressed up for the occasion. "You have helped me to clear my workshop of the invaders, and even given it a cleansing with lava." He smiled at me, and there was a twinkle in his eye. "You have helped me and given me back the use of my favorite forge, so accept these gifts as my thanks."

My eyebrows rose high. A gift from Lord Hephaestus himself…Wow… He produced two weirdly-shaped paper packages, and handed them to me. I expressed my thanks and tentatively started to tear away the paper wrappings. The first package turned out to be a long, sleek bow. Flame red, with a stylized fire design running through its length, with a matching full quiver of arrows. Together, they cast a bright red glow, just like fire, but they weren't hot to touch at all.

"You like archery don't you?" He clapped me on the shoulder and smiled at my bewildered expression. "I made this for you. Personalized design, with the blessings of Apollo and Artemis over there (Artemis smiled at me while Apollo flashed a heroic pose)…and…oh yes…the quiver has an unlimited supply of celestial bronze, imperial gold and consecrated silver arrows."

And of course, the other gift was just as stunning: a set of celestial bronze armor, complete with a helmet, and there were intricate flame designs etched on every single inch of the metal. The whole thing was woven with a web of intricate magic, like the high-grade armors sold only in the luxurious sections of the stores, only this time, this was a gift for me, and everything was a perfect fit to my size.

"Thank you so much, Lord Hephaestus." I gasped. This was an amazing gift! My fingers traced the stylized raised fire designs on the bow. "Except… why did you put those fire designs? Not that I don't like it, of course."I hurriedly added as my eyes secretly drifted towards my dad. I was a daughter of Poseidon, yet right now, my outfits were covered with flames. _Uh…hope he will not turn me into a puddle of sea water for ridiculous reasons such as 'losing the heritage of the sea' or something._

"No problem. I always reward valiant acts with wonderful gifts. As for the fire…you'll have to ask Apollo on that one. He burst into my forge yesterday and yelled about changing the designs…so…there you have it." He grinned, and walked back to his throne.

Athena then spoke up. "While I thank the sea spawn-" Annabeth and Poseidon both glared at her. "-ahem, _Katniss,_ for saving my daughter, yet we still need to decide her fate. She is still a child of the Big Three, and most likely the demigod of the prophecy, and therefore potentially very dangerous. Should we risk letting her live?"

Poseidon stood up and slammed his trident on the ground, causing a minor quake to shake the throne room. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, ATHENA?" He forced out through gritted teeth. I gulped and looked around the room. Annabeth looked frozen with horror, as was Thalia and Zoe.

Athena backed down slightly, but her gaze was still defiant. "She is too unpredictable and too powerful! The explosion at Mt. St. Helens proved that! How do we know we can trust her?!"

The throne room erupted into a flurry of arguments. Gods started yelling at each other, and I saw many gods reaching for their items of power. _Uh oh…things were getting worse, and disastrous, and…did I say disastrous?_

Hephaestus cleared his throat loudly. "Cousins, Typhon himself did not get released in the end anyways, was he?" He produced a hammer and shield from his belt and slammed them against each other, causing everyone to quiet down. "Speaking of children of the Big Three…" He clapped his hand, and an automaton walked into the room. Zoe and Thalia let out loud gasps of disbelief and fear. At a snap of Hephaestus' fingers, the robot's front section swung open, revealing a dark haired, olive-skinned girl, unconscious.

_What the…_my brains did a 360 degree flip before landing back into my skull. Similarly, Thalia and Zoe let out loud gasps and ran towards her. "Bianca!"

Hephaestus snapped his fingers, and the automaton responded by pulling out his sword and stepping in front of Bianca. "How did-?"I managed to get out the words. "What just happened?"

Zoe stepped forward. "Lord Hephaestus…how is this possible? We saw your automaton fall on her! She would have been crushed!"

Hephaestus flashed a rather proud grin: "My automaton fell on her, yes, that is correct. It might seem that she is dead from the outside, but she is actually being transported to my palace through a chip at the automaton's core. That daughter of Hades is certainly very hard to capture."

Zeus boomed: "She is a child of Hades? Then I shall smite her!" He took out his Master Bolt, lifted it up like a javelin player and waited for it to charge. I was shocked. How was this fair? Zeus would let me live and not kill Thalia, but he would strike down Bianca without a qualm? This was wrong. I did the only thing I could.

"No!" I leapt forward and threw myself between the sizzling Master Bolt and the prone form of Bianca lying on the ground. I concentrated my thoughts, completely unaware of the surprised yelps of the other gods as a shield of water formed in front of me. Two other people stood by my side, forming a line to protect the unconscious girl with our own bodies. Annabeth tried to come too, but Athena pulled her back. Zeus was shocked to see me and his daughter run in front of the bolt, but it was already too fully charged for him to draw back. Zeus' lightning bolt flared, releasing a whole universe of bright white and golden colors.

There was a huge explosion. I felt nothing. Gradually, voices began to enter my head and I began to feel surprised. If I was dead, how come I could still hear? There were loud shouts and arguments around me. I slowly forced an eye open. Everything was in utter chaos. The gods were all yelling at each other, and Zeus seemed to have been tackled by my father, as he was now tightly pinned to the floor with a trident pointing straight at his throat. Thalia, Zoe, Bianca and I were in sort of a group hug. Surprisingly enough, none of us were dead. We weren't even singed slightly. Bianca woke up from the mighty explosion and was observing her surroundings with fearful eyes. She seemed to relax when she saw Zoe, though. Zoe fumbled with her ropes and took out her gag. We were all still pretty much shell-shocked, so we stayed in the hugging position and would not let go.

As it turned out, my water shield hadn't been necessary. Apparently, there were quite a few gods on our side. Poseidon had immediately knocked Zeus' hand away with his trident, throwing his aim slightly off course. We still would have been fried, if not for Apollo and Artemis throwing a huge energy shield around us, and Hermes and Hephaestus pitching in. We were safe. As for Annabeth, she was glaring at her mother Athena, who just stared impassively ahead.

"Lord Zeus, please, you cannot kill somebody just because of something they might do."

Zeus' groaned at this turn of events, "Yeah, yeah. I had Poseidon yell in my ear about that. Someone go and get Hades up here." He ordered, and Hermes flashed out, only to return a few minutes later with a black-cloaked figure by his side: it was Lord Hades himself.

"What has happened here? Why is my child hugging that sea spawn?" Hades drawled, completely ignoring the fact that I am still in the room and listening.

Poseidon cleared his throat, retrieved his trident, stood up, and said haltingly: "Brother… Hephaestus found your daughter and brought her here. Zeus tried to blast your daughter and my daughter and her friends tried to protect yours. Because of my daughter, I was forced to intervene. You might say that Katniss and her friends saved your daughter." He rambled on, but I was lost at the words 'brought her here', so the latter words didn't really make any sense to me.

"I was just trying to remove a potential threat." Zeus muttered as he sat back to his throne. "You violated the oath…"

"And you think my daughter is a potential threat?" Hades growled. "I will show you what 'potential threat' is, _little_ brother! You took Maria away from me! I am not going to let you take my kids too!" A cluster of dark energy began to form around Hades' clenched fists, making Zeus back up. _Apparently nobody wanted to receive the wrath of the dead._ "And don't talk to me about violating the oath! What of Thalia Grace? What of Katniss Everdeen? My daughter was born _before _the oath was taken!" he gestured to the sparking bolt in Zeus' hands angrily. "I put her in the Lotus Casino to protect her!" his voice became deathly quiet. "Don't you find it ironic that out of all of you, only _I _was able to keep my oath?" he glared contemptuously at Zeus.

"Lord Hades, stop this! It is no use fighting amongst ourselves! It would only weaken us as a whole!" I raised my voice and put my hands up in a placating gesture. "What you need to be doing is learning to trust us as heroes! Like I said, you cannot punish us just by something we might do."

"This demigod has a point." Demeter chimed in, "You all need more cereal."

"Shut up Demeter!" Hades snapped, but to my relief, the black energy subsided. He turned around, eyes immediately softened as he laid eyes on Bianca. Bianca took a few hesitant steps towards her father, but finally decided to take his hand. And for what would probably be the first and only time, I saw Hades smile.

"I will take her to the underworld and provide her with training." He stated to the rest of the gods. "She will be a true daughter of Hades." Hades then turned to me and extended his hand. "You have done well to save my daughter, sea spawn. I will give you my blessing, allowing you to walk freely in and out of the Underworld. You have my friendship." With that, he flashed out with Bianca in tow.

Poseidon looked over to Zeus, who still had his mouth hanging open in disbelief, and smirked. "Well… that went well." he said to me. I had to put a hand over my mouth to stop myself from grinning.

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Athena sighed. "Now, since _that _matter has been resolved, we still have to decide the sea sp-_Katniss' _fate."

Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "What is there to discuss, Bird Brains?" I stifled a giggle, while Annabeth looked like she was trying to decide whether to laugh or to frown.

Athena glared at Poseidon. "Your child is much too powerful! She is unpredictable and therefore dangerous! How do we know we can trust her?!"

Poseidon facepalmed: "Ah… here we go again. I think we already closed discussion on this issue in our previous arguments?"

Half an hour later, I think I was beginning to understand why Annabeth had tried to distance herself away from me during our first quest. Was this how our parents fought? They probably would have gone on arguing for some time, but they were suddenly all interrupted by Apollo, who shot up, his eyes glowing green for a few minutes, and started saying something in Greek, too fast for anyone to catch. After about thirty seconds, the fit stopped, and Apollo returned to normal. His face was uncharacteristically grim. "I must ask that all demigods except Katniss Everdeen leave the throne room now."

There were a lot of surprised mutterings and whispers, and quite a few protests by Thalia, Zoe and Annabeth, but they were all eventually ushered out and zapped right back into Camp Half-Blood. My heart started beating faster. Apollo had had a vision. Apparently it was secret enough to fit the standards of "for your eyes only". What was it?

Apollo walked to the centre of the Throne Room, breathing heavily, then started chanting in Greek, obviously a prophecy or something. He spoke so fast that even with all the training Annabeth had given me, I was only able to catch a few words. Wait…was it "middle earth" or "the centre of the earth"? _I am not going back down there to the darkness of the lava pits! _And if it was "middle earth", is there some place in the world called "up earth" and "down earth"? I couldn't make much sense of it, but I saw the other gods give gasps of surprise, fear and shock. Poseidon's face paled dramatically, and he got a faraway look in his eyes. I was starting to get frightened now. What was going on? Something told me I was _not _returning to Camp after this.

All the gods burst out in a quick, hurried discussion in Greek. My mind was swirling. I felt like yelling at them until they all stopped arguing and explain what Apollo had said, _in English!_ Finally, Apollo himself took pity on me and knelt before me, shrinking to human size and bringing our eyes to the same level. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Katniss, I had a vision of the titan's council. Kronos is determined to find you and kill you at all costs. He has already released all the worst monsters of Tartarus in search for you. He knows you will not abandon us, so his only choice is to kill you before the prophecy is fulfilled and try to corrupt Nico for his purposes. Nico can go to the Underworld, he will be well-protected there, but the issue we have right now, is you. He will stop at nothing to kill you, and so I fear that here may not be a safe place for you now." His voice was gentle, knowing how hard the news would be to take.

Oh. So I was now on the Titan Army's most wanted list. I didn't think it would be possible to feel any more afraid than what I had already been feeling. But boy, I was wrong. Earlier, it had just been anxiety and nervousness. Now, it was true blood-curdling fear. Sure, I had faced down a titan. Sure, I had killed tons of monsters. But with all of them working together, with the intention of having me for dinner…it probably was not good at all. "What do I do? Wait… you said… here may not be a safe place to hide anymore. Where am I supposed to go, then?"

"To another world!" Zeus boomed dramatically. Apollo rolled his eyes and went back to his throne, gesturing at Zeus for him to explain. Zeus cleared his throat again, as if he was afraid that somebody might ignore him. "Now listen well, Katniss Everdeen. This secret is a closely guarded secret that no demigod has ever been allowed to know." He leaned in and spoke in a stage whisper. "Other worlds, they exist. This world is called 'Middle Earth'. There are humans, just like here, but there are also a few other races. Occasionally, we, the gods would visit the land once in a while. Artemis, especially, loves to hunt in the forests there. We have all agreed that you will be sent there."

I just stared at him blankly. "Other worlds?" the concept was just too wacky to be true. If someone else other than the king of the gods had told me, I would have laughed in their faces and doused them in pond water to clear their minds up. Even now, I wouldn't have believed Zeus if the other gods hadn't seemed deadly serious, even my dad.

Zeus continued rambling. "Earth is now too dangerous for you to stay. We cannot risk losing you to the enemy, as you are the demigod of the prophecy. So we will send you to this other world for sanctuary. You will stay there for a year, and then return when you are a day from sixteen." Zeus gestured to Hermes, who flashed out, then returned a few seconds later with a two bags stuffed with all I had ever owned in Camp, plus another bag filled with basic supplies like ambrosia and nectar. There was also a very heavy bag that sounded suspiciously like it was full of drachmas. Finally, He brought Blackjack, who immediately cantered over and nuzzled me fondly.

I stepped back, deep in thought. "Oh…" then, looking around at all the packed stuff, I did a double take."Wait, you mean now?!" All the gods nodded as one. I started to hyperventilate. "Wait, what about my friends? I need to say goodbye to them! I need to tell them where I'm going!"

Zeus shook his head. "I don't think you remember it, but didn't I already tell you that this information that other worlds exist must be kept secret?"He sat back and crossed his arms, indicating clearly that the discussion was over.

My father stepped off his throne and walked over to me. He handed me a small box. I opened it, and found a small metal device mounted on a bronze plate. It was connected to a small bronze bowl, which was in turn connected to a spray nozzle. It was painted blue and green, and there was a symbol of the trident inscribed on the bowl. On the bottom, there was the symbol of the maker. One simple letter, Eta, was neatly etched in the metal. I understood what it was: a rainbow maker, for contacting the gods. I turned the machine over in my hands. "Would this even _work _in the other world? I mean, do you get interference or anything?"

Hephaestus chuckled. "Normally, yes, but this is a secure connection for voice calls only. You cannot use it to contact camp, because there is always a possibility for spies among the demigod ranks. Oh, and you can only use this once a day. It needs time to cool down after every use."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. _Just like that? They're just sending me away like that? Not even giving me time to say goodbye?_ It was all happening to fast for me. _Had it really been yesterday when we fought at the entrance of the Labyrinth?_ Now it was only the afternoon of the second day, and I was already being sent to another world for an entire freaking year!

Meanwhile, the gods closed their eyes and spread out their hands. In front of Zeus' throne, a shimmering doorway began to appear. Beyond the doorway, there was a green forest, and the scent of the wild wafted out.

I gulped and took a deep breath. I strapped on my new armor, put my supplies on Blackjack's saddle, _(Hey, I am a Pegasus, not a mule!)_ and hugged my father. I took a deep breath, shouldered my quiver, grabbed my bow, and cordially bid all the gods in the council goodbye, even the ones I didn't like. As I turned to Lady Hestia, she took my hand and placed one of her hands on my forehead. In her gentle, calming voice, she spoke. "Katniss Everdeen. You are a rare hero who cares about family and friends. Where you are going, you will sometimes feel depressed, or hopeless. Hope is scarce in the world. I give you my blessing, therefore, to inspire hope among people. Bring the warmth and joy of family and friends with you. Fire is often a symbol of hope, is it not?" She smiled at me, and my entire body glowed temporarily. My body was suddenly wreathed in flames. For some reason, it didn't burn me, and as Lady Hestia was still holding my hand tightly, I didn't freak out. Good thing too, with so many gods watching me.

"Thank you, Lady Hestia." I smiled at her. I held up my hand and watched the fire dance over it. _Cool. Now I know why the bow had a fire design._

Hestia's gaze became stern. "But you must promise never to use my blessing for hostile purposes unless _absolutely necessary_. Is that clear?"

I nodded. "Perfectly, my lady, I swear it on the River Styx."

She smiled, satisfied, and enveloped me in a hug. "I wish you the best of luck in the other world, girl on fire."

"Yes, may the odds ever be in your favor…" smiled Artemis.

I glanced around the throne room one last time, and cast a longing glance at the doors, where I knew Annabeth and Thalia would be waiting for me to come out. Tears sprang into my eyes, but I didn't allow them to fall. I mounted Blackjack, who sent some comforting thoughts to me.

I spurred her on into a walk, and I rode straight through the portal.

I was in the forest now. I looked back, and saw the doorway rapidly folding on itself. In a few seconds, it winked out of existence.

"You must be Katniss Everdeen; we have been expecting you for a while." A male voice sounded. I instinctively twirled around, expecting to find monsters, yet was greeted with a middle-aged man. He had long, brown hair, a pair of eyebrows that probably resulted from raising his eyebrows too much, and a strangely-shaped crown around his head. He shook my hand, and flashed me a warm, fatherly smile. "Welcome to Rivendell, my dear. My name is Elrond."


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